Thieves take rare zoo monkeys as guards sleep

Eight rare monkeys, each just more than five inches long, have been stolen from an Indian zoo.

A keeper from Kolkata's Alipore Zoological Garden noticed the tiny Common Marmosets were missing when he went to feed them.

The monkeys, worth around €1,500 in the illegal wildlife market, were reportedly stolen while a guard was on duty. Two guards had been employed exclusively for the zoo's two marmoset enclosures.

A police spokesman said: "A probe has revealed that the guard was asleep when he should have been guarding the enclosure.

"We are trying to find out whether he has any links with the thieves."

The zoo has 16 members of the rare species, four of which stolen during the raid were adults, while the other four were their young. Eight more were being housed in an another enclosure.

S K Chowdhury, the director of the zoo, said: "They weigh between 500 and 700g and were donated to us by the Delhi-based Institute of Immunology in January 2001."

Since then, this was the second time the monkeys were the target of thieves, the first being in March when a man was caught trying to steal one.

Investigations have revealed that the thieves climbed a wall to enter the premises early yesterday morning, cut the wire mesh and escaped with the animals.

"After reaching the shed housing the eight stolen marmosets, a couple of thieves scaled the nine-foot gate and cut the wire mesh. The small opening was enough to take out the tiny primates," a zoo official told Indian newspaper the Telegraph.

Police stations across the city have been alerted.

The Common Marmoset, characterised by tufts of hair around its ears, is generally sold illegally to collectors as part of the illicit pet trade.